Oakland NAACP Blames 'Defund the Police' for Rampant Crime in City

Authorities in Oakland, California, are being urged to "declare a state of emergency" by the local branch of a leading civil rights group, in response to a surge in crime that "overwhelming impacts minority communities."

The call was made by the Oakland branch of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) in a statement that hit out at "failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police" and what they claimed was the local District Attorney's failure to "prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes." Speaking to Newsweek Cynthia Adams, president of the Oakland NAACP, said: "We need the police!"

A number of major U.S. cities have reported significant increases in crime over the past years, which experts have attributed variously to the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to "defund the police" following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. According to FBI statistics the U.S. recorded more than 21,000 murders in 2020, the highest figure since 1995.

The Oakland NAACP statement, which was also signed by Bishop Bob Jackson from the Acts Full Gospel Church, said: "Oakland residents are sick and tired of our intolerable public safety crisis that overwhelmingly impacts minority communities. Murders, shootings, violent armed robberies, home invasions, car break-ins, sideshows, and highway shootouts have become a pervasive fixture of life in Oakland. We call on all elected leaders to unite and declare a state of emergency and bring together massive resources to address our public safety crisis."

It continued: "African Americans are disproportionately hit the hardest by crime in East Oakland and other parts of the city. But residents from all parts of the city report that they do not feel safe. Women are targeted by young mobs and viciously beaten and robbed in downtown and uptown neighborhoods. Asians are assaulted in Chinatown. Street vendors are robbed in Fruitvale. News crews have their cameras stolen while they report on crime."

The statement blamed the crisis on "failed leadership, including the movement to defund the police, our District Attorney's unwillingness to charge and prosecute people who murder and commit life threatening serious crimes, and the proliferation of anti-police rhetoric" that "have created a heyday for Oakland criminals."

It urged African Americans to "speak out and demand improved public safety" along with "Oakland's White, Asian and Latino communities."

The authors added there is "nothing compassionate or progressive about allowing criminal behavior to fester," and concluded: "It is not racist or unkind to want to be safe from crime."

In an interview with Newsweek Adams said: "There's so much crime going in Oakland now. A lot of women are getting robbed…It's just scary.

"We have to come out with something to try and get this city back together."

Newsweek has contacted Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and the Oakland Police Department for comment by email.

In April a 44-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter were shot dead in Oakland.

The previous month Paris Moffett, a 23-year-old who had been paralyzed from the waist down in a previous shooting, was also shot dead in Oakland.